Dark Shadows II: Rebuilding Collinwood
by Daryl Wor
Summary: This is being shared to support other artists right now. It is what I have for a sequel to the movie. I asked "What if?" after the end of the movie and our beloved Barnabas and Josette gave this so far. I hope you enjoy it. I'd like to do more, but as you probably understand I have a ton more on my plate right now. Feel free to get in touch. Blessed be.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: It is way too early to share this. But I'm doing it anyway. It blends movie Dark Shadows with original Dark Shadows when you see what Josette has to suggest. But I'm sharing it now to help others in this movie fandom to understand how much I desperately support you. _**

**_For right now consider this either an epilogue or the beginning of a new film. I am happy to consider it both. I read it to my Mum over the phone and she was so happy to hear me read it. I hope you are happy with it as well. _**

**_We begin as was left off in the movie. Again, all I asked them was, "What if?" and they gave it to me. :)_**

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Dark Shadows II: Rebuilding Collinwood

The thrushing waves lapped over the couple in their gorging of mouths and souls. Victoria Winters, once known as Maggie Evans, recalling her life as Josette duPres, released her kiss and asked, "May we go home now?"

Barnabas blinked the sea water from his lashes and admitted to her, "We cannot, my love."

"Why not?" his beloved asked, soaked with love and sea water.

"Because it is burning to the ground."

Their eyes were locked but her questioning gaze came with Barnabas' response, "As we all fought her, our nemesis, Angelique, began destroying it, even as David's mother was destroying her in return."

Josette, now assenting her old persona into her modern body, quipped, "Well? Why don't we retire to The Old House?"

The sea sounded as if it were ready to take a nap in response to such a casual question.

"The Old House?' Barnabas asked his newly found bride, "How did you know about that?"

"I remember, my dearest. Don't you?" she answered.

Barnabas smiled widely, without any grievance to unmasking the fangs he was once ashamed of, "I do remember. I remember so much better now… to have someone to remember The Old House with."

And he proceeded to passionately kiss Josette again.

Of course, lying on the beach and making out for the rest of the night would never do. They had all the time in the world now, as it was.

With Josette's new found powers she surveyed her territory, and Barnabas was happily a part of that. The wide Atlantic she had fallen to her death in was now _all_ _hers_ as this new life unfolded before her in 1972. The rocky shores welcomed her sight, the cliffs beckoned her to adore them and in the sharpened claws she shared with her lover, she took his hand and ascended the climb to where their Heaven might lay once again: Together.

As they climbed, hand in hand, up the precipice to the top of Widows Hill, Josette surveyed the tragedy from afar. Collinwood was in ruins and the flames were spiraling out of control. She took a deep inhale of breath, clutching Barnabas' hand in the fear of what would come.

"Is it too much, my darling?" he asked.

She turned to him and answered, "No. We will make it right."

"How?" he inquired.

"There is The Old House beyond, with the columns of our previous world lost in the darkness of the woods. That part of the estate they won't recognize. We'll lead our family there. The riches hidden will keep us well taken care of and fed. The walls contain what we need…" and then Josette smiled, a glint of fang shimmering in the moonlight, "We will be all right."

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_**AN: This is all I have for now. I'm sorry it's not more, but, as I say, I am sharing it to help support "Jailbreak" and "Josette Reborn". Please keep going! If anyone would like to review this I welcome that but I am looking for support in how to go about it via direct communication.**_

_**As some of you might be aware "Dark Shadows 2012" helped to encourage me to keep "The Pit of Ultimate Dark Shadows" going when I saw what they were doing that fit in with all my studies… things they decided that I didn't expect.**_

_**For right now this is possibly a movie epilogue, or the beginning of a grand sequel, but please support "Jailbreak" and "Josette Reborn". Thank you, DS kids! PLEASE, KEEP GOING!**_

_**Love,**_

_**Daryl Wor**_

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_'People say "A picture is worth a thousand words." That is true in some cases. In other cases a word is worth a thousand pictures.' - -Douglas Adams_

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Feel free to get in touch via email, too. I am not afraid. I hope you aren't either. Peace.


	2. Chapter 2: The Wreckage

Chapter Two: The Wreckage

As Barnabas held Josette's hand he had to look toward her and ask, "How is it possible?"

Josette smiled, dimly, "How is what possible?"

"You've come back to me, Josette. How is that possible?"

They traversed the grasses, heading toward the fiery destination of a crumbling Collinwood, knowing their loved ones would be outside it, knowing they would have to care for those loved ones who would be looking for guidance.

"Barnabas," Josette began, looking down at her feet as they walked and thinking it over, "You longed for me all of that time you were underground… and I felt it. I maintained all that love we held together long ago. When I was born once more… there was no consideration to leading any other life than this one. Our destinies are one. We are left to nothing else... In this life I learned that, not only were you calling to me, I was calling to you. That's why I had to leave the place I was born. I had to come back to Collinwood. I had to continue that life we_ hadn't_ shared together. I had to find you again."

They continued toward the burning wreckage of Collinwood. Barnabas was briefly sated but not completely satisfied with her answer, "That explains the love but not the ability," he murmured.

Josette smirked a giggle, "Perhaps it's something David's mother can tell you. I'm not sure that I can. I am more complicated than someone who is living in ghostly form alone. I've lived a life of multiplicity… one that I barely understand myself."

"All right. I will believe you utterly, my Josette", Barnabas spoke. He raised her hand and kissed it, wanting nothing to change what he was experiencing. Barnabas couldn't question her, he had only to confess his abeyance.

"As well you should, my love," she expressed.

Of course, none of these words palled the memories of the Collins Family they reached who were desperately seeking _any_ answer. The question had already been asked by young David Collins, "What are we going to do now?" and Elizabeth Stoddard had answered him, "What we've always done: Endure."

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As the ruins of Collinwood were before them, Barnabas and Josette approached their family, hand in hand. Their heels clicked on the stone working beneath their feet.

Elizabeth, wavy blonde hair aflutter, raised an eyebrow to her cousin, Barnabas Collins, and asked, "I hope you have an answer to how we're going to deal with this."

Josette duPres smiled and said, "I have an answer, Elizabeth. It is The Old House."

"_What_ Old House?" Elizabeth Stoddard wondered to her.

"Oh, it's there, beyond those trees," Josette pointed beyond their view point into the forest, "We will have to rebuild Collinwood from this wreckage, but rest assured… we _will…_ Endure…"

Elizabeth held her daughter and nephew in her arms, "That's exactly what we will do, Miss Winters: Endure."

And so they went, Barnabas, Josette, Elizabeth, Carolyn and David, into the woods and toward The Old House...


	3. Chapter 3: The Old House

_A/N: I'd like to do a more thorough job of this... but I'm going to keep following my nose for now. Enjoy..._

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Chapter Three: The Old House

As the family settled into walking through the woods, David made grabs at branches, jumping up to catch leaves which brought the rest of the family to relieved smiles.

Throughout all the downfall and destruction; a child could still be a child.

Suddenly David halted his fun and pointed, "That's it! The Old House!"

As crickets chirped in the distance of a long night, the family stood still in awe, noticing the columns, the triangular top most above them to show the majesty of its previous occupants.

"Our old home," Barnabas breathed.

"Yes, my love," Josette assented, "this was where you grew up before Collinwood was built. Collins House here… a place Angelique was never allowed to go, among other servants."

"Angelique couldn't come here?" Carolyn wondered aloud.

"Many who were unrelated to the family couldn't come here," Josette explained, "it was the first house, built to be sequestered while the larger home was constructed."

"That's correct," Elizabeth remembered, "This was what we first built after arriving from England. A more humble creation was made even as The Great House would be constructed. The Great House was a way to deflect attention from our stay in this one, or well… our…"

"Our ancestors," Barnabas continued, "remained here, as we would later inhabit the larger part of the estate. Collins House was finished prior to Collinwood to give us the old comforts of that home in England we'd previously known."

"So," Carolyn relayed, "this is a copy of our family's house in England, Barnabas?"

"Yes," he answered, turning to her, "I barely remember it myself. I was so young, but…"

"But," Elizabeth smiled, "it is a reconstruction of that old homestead we came from, as you can attest… having lived in that time, however briefly."

Barnabas smiled back, realizing that everyone around him knew so well he was no modern man and had returned from a past of long ago, "It is as well laid a reconstruction of our English home as could be imagined."

"That doesn't explain," Carolyn prodded, in a desire of needing protection, "why Angelique couldn't come here."

"Very precious few servants were allowed to care for this house," Barnabas explained, "as the majority of the staff was designated toward helping to build The Great House of Collinwood, whereas this one allowed only our nearest and dearest servants to take care of us and it."

"Which is just as well, " Josette continued, "for Angelique and her mother believed nothing was worthy of interest here. All would show its future in The Great House of Collinwood. This house was inconsequential to the family, and so it was to the Bouchards as well."

"Not anymore," uttered David, "I've always loved it."

"You knew about this place?" Carolyn asked, incredulously.

"Mother showed it to me after she died, and I would come here to play."

Carolyn laughed as lightly as she could, "Trust Aunt Laura… giving me some peace and quiet once in a while."

"She says that you're welcome," David smiled back.

"Does she?" Carolyn almost scoffed.

"She does," Josette said quietly, "I can hear her, too… now."

"Let's go in," Elizabeth reasoned, "Cobwebs and all. I'm sure it's much warmer in there than it is out here."

The clopping of steps proceeded as they made their way to the front opening, but it didn't stop David from asking, as he opened the door, "Aunt Elizabeth? Where did Willie and Mrs. Johnson go?"


	4. Chapter 4: The Drawing Room

_A/N: I'm working hard on The Pit and following my nose here. I hope you all stay tuned. I'll do what I can for you all. That's a promise!_

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Chapter Four: The Drawing Room

Elizabeth heard the wonderings of her nephew, David, as she took her hand to turn his head toward the drawing room of Collinwood's Old House, so that David could easily see who awaited them inside: Mrs. Johnson and Willie Loomis. Willie answered David's question with the widest of smiles, saying, "Yeah! Here we are! Mrs. Johnson and I knew to come over to this house before everyone else did!"

"AND," Elizabeth nodded, happily, "You've had all the candles lighted to show us the way, right Willie?"

"Well, we had to, didn't we?" Willie answered her, toasting upward with a can of Pabst in his hand, "I sure as hell wasn't going to welcome you all with a damned axe, was I?"

"Willie," Carolyn turned to him, "I was never as proud of you as I was in the moment I learned you'd approached Angie with an **axe**."

Willie snorted, slurping from his beer can and answering, "Meh, I never thought I'd want your pride… but here we are, Miss Stoddard. And I'm happy to have it."

Mrs. Johnson nodded in assent as she took a seat in a dusty armchair.

"Willie," Barnabas wondered, "did you lead the way here for the two of you?"

"Nah," admitted Willie Loomis, "It was Mrs. Johnson… I just followed her here. She seemed to know where she was going and she-"

"Was about as useful as a bucket without a bottom?" Josette smirked.

"If you say so," Willie told her.

"No, I didn't. You said so, Mr. Loomis."

"I suppose I did, Miss Winters. Yeah."

The abode was not untidy. It lacked some dusting but was more or less what Barnabas and Josette anticipated from their old memories. The two loyal servants had built a fire in the fireplace of this main room and the staircase invited the family desires to tread upwards to pick out rooms for themselves.

"I know exactly the room that I want," David exclaimed, "It's up the stairs and three doors to the left!"

"Then?" Elizabeth leaned down to him, "Go ahead and take it, my lad."

David looked as if the entire home was his kingdom. The sounds of stomping and tromping up the staircase proceeded and all the adults in the drawing room happily chuckled at David's delight.

"Look at him go!" Elizabeth smiled.

"That's great," Carolyn expressed, sarcastically, "then where do I go?"

"Where do you want to go, Carolyn?" her mother asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Do you have preternatural anticipations about what room would be best for you, Carolyn?"

"Are you making fun of me, Mother?" Carolyn inquired, dubiously.

"No, Carolyn" Elizabeth answered, "I simply wanted to make sure you knew I appreciated your differences in tastes and tendencies before I asked you. It wasn't easy recognizing what you were tonight, but I believe I'm coming to terms with it… you're… blessing…. As it were…"

Carolyn was uneasy with this response but finally answered, "Thank you, Mother." And then trounced up the stairs following David's footsteps.

Josette held Barnabas' hand and then put her other hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, "The children are going to do so well here, Mrs. Stoddard."

Elizabeth nodded happily to Josette, "I believe they will, Miss Winters. Or… what should we call you now, my friend?"

"Who I am," Victoria responded, "My name is… Josette du Pres."

Elizabeth smirked, "I have always had the terrible feeling, since you walked through our door, that Josette was who you were all along."

"Why need the feeling be terrible, Mrs. Stoddard?" Josette wondered.

"Because that would mean things were turning out for the better… and who could _believe_ such a thing at Collinwood?" Elizabeth answered, leaning her forehead, lovingly, against Josette's.

Barnabas smiled toward them with adoration and at all that occurred around him. These beautiful admittances, the glory of an estate he'd known, his new family understanding how to handle it; there was nothing to do but smile and accept it. Now it wasn't a question of going over the family papers with his beloved cousin, Elizabeth. It was a matter of deciding what the family would do with him, her and his long-lost love: Josette duPres. And how wonderful she could be with modern understandings. Maggie Evans had become Victoria Winters to reach Collinwood. But she would forever be to him his one true love: _Josette._

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_[A/N: I'm adding to this as much as I can. I am easy to reach of you want to talk to me. Please keep the faith and STOP the senseless gossiping on Twitter!]_


	5. Chapter 5: Carolyn's Room

Chapter Five: Carolyn's Room

If Carolyn had trampled up the stairs on all fours, she would have encountered the same thing as she travelled up them on two legs: little light, David picking a room far off down the hall, and then her entering the door of the room she was preferring for herself. The only trouble is she didn't realise what she would find behind that door. A vanity, a candle stick and a bed off in the distance is what she found and expected to find, of course. But then she heard some respiratory conditions and she recognised them: Mostly unhappily recognised them as she had known them in her own hours of puberty in discovering herself as a werewolf.

Sniffing out the matchbox and striking a match along the side of the box, she lit one of the candles in the room she'd chose for herself and called out, _"Who is here?"_

A low growl met her question.

"Look," Carolyn stated, "I'm planning on **taking **this room, so if someone is here, I'd really like you to square off and let me know."

"Why?" A random voice wondered.

"Because," Carolyn got up the courage to announce, "I don't relish my first night in this house to be one where privacy is an issue. Really. My whole family is staying here and I think they'd be concerned when someone else decided to inhabit the space I picked out."

"I can wait." The random voice told her.

_Oh, what a gas! _Carolyn had dealt with all the bull-crap of facing what she was, and later the garbage of Uncle Roger's sh*tty affairs, and then the random old world vampire cousin showing up, along with the demure governess for her deranged cousin. Now? Some random voice was bothering her out of her own choice-of-room in The Old House before her very_ pointed_ ears?

"Who are you?" Carolyn demanded.

"Oh, that's new!" expressed the gentle voice. The next thing Carolyn knew she saw a young man drop from the ceiling. He wore a leather jacket, biker style, blue jeans, a mustache that met the pointed sideburns along each of his cheeks, and curly, dark hair, imposing expression and, hands in pockets, he approached her.

"Usually I just get called 'Hey You', or 'Get Outta Here'. It's nice to hear someone ask me what my actual name is."

"So what is it?" Carolyn tilted her head to ask.

"I go by Buzz."

"Buzz? Like an electric buzz?" Carolyn wondered.

"No, just Buzz. I prefer that to Boris or Beauregard, or Bernard. Whatever my name might be, if I remembered it; Buzz works for me. It's hard enough during a night like tonight: a full moon. People can see more; know all about you, if you catch my drift."

Carolyn reflected on this and assented, "Yes, on the night of a full moon, people can see things more clearly, can't they?"

"I can see more clearly. That's all I know …Miss?"

"Stoddard, Carolyn Stoddard."

The young man in the leather jacket raised his eyebrow at her, "Carolyn… I've always liked that name."

"Won't win you any prizes."

"I didn't expect it to, Lady Carolyn." Buzz smiled, "Now where would you like me to go since you've claimed this room?"

"Maybe the drawing room? However many Collins there are among us, most of us are squatters tonight."

The young man stepped about, hanging his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, "I noticed that the big Collinwood Estate was burning down tonight as most people did. I wasn't sure where I'd lay my head, but if you are telling me to go down to the drawing room of this old house to reside on a couch, I'll take your advice."

"Or maybe," Carolyn considered, "you should just leave for the woods."

"But would you want me to, Miss Stoddard?" Buzz asked.

"No," Carolyn admitted, "That would mean you'd have to come all the way back from a long way in town so I could find out at breakfast where the hell you came from."

Buzz's smile warmed in the moonlight emanating from the windows, "A couch in the drawing room of this old house will be good enough for me. I will take the 'commands' from my fellow 'fetching creature': Miss Carolyn Stoddard."

Carolyn opened her maw to ask him back, but Buzz had already closed the door of the room.

Carolyn then looked around her room to see what good she could make of it.

As she had found a bed and tucked herself into the blankets of it she wondered what it might be like if she had allowed that disagreeable but 'fetching' lad she'd argued with to remain…

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**_A/N: Well, let me know what you enjoyed! I figure most of you know who this 'Buzz' is based on. * wink *_**

**_Also, no need to gossip endlessly on social media. But if you want to? You're likely helping to sell more ad-space to make more gentrification in my old neighbourhood. The more you use social media to chat with people and create BS about my personal life…? The more you sell ad-revenue to update more physical infrastructure to my old valley, hee hee hee! _**

**_Yes! We are very much enjoying the cobblestone, and other upgrades around here. Thank you for your continued "patronage"! ;) _**

**_(Get in touch TorontoBatFan: lovin' your work! I feel as if I have finally come "Home", as you well know!)_**


	6. Chapter 6: Hello Again (Josette's Room)

**_A/N: Please note, some of this chapter is heavily influenced by the radio drama version of "As Time Goes By", episode 106, (Written by Bob Larbey, starring Judi Dench as "Jean" and Geoffrey Palmer as "Lionel",) that can be found on Internet Archive [archive dot org]. When we consider Jean and Lionel, separated by 38 years apart, it becomes much easier to understand the longer time acclaimed by Barnabas and Josette. And so… on with their story._**

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Chapter Six: "Hello, Again" (Josette's Room)

From the drawing room Josette held Barnabas' hand and led him up the stairs. As they walked, they talked.

"Remember that room you designed for me before I arrived from France?" she wondered.

"I do." He answered, clutching her hand strongly while they ascended the premises.

"Looks as if it's been a while since you thought about it."

"I am ashamed to admit this is true."

"Don't be," Josette told him, as they reached the landing." You've had a lot on your mind since you awoke. I'm sure you thought about it endlessly prior to that."

"I did… _very much."_

They wandered down the hall and discovered the door of her old room, with a knob rather low, as knobs were on doors in the olden days.

Opening the door, they found that Josette's bedroom was both untouched by use as well as aged in a century and a half of time. Taper candles remained placed in both wall sconces and candlesticks on tables and nightstands. Her old vanity still held a candlestick with a taper candle, yet unlit.

Two French windows with pointed tops graced the room on diagonal points of the rooms' display. Between these two long windows was the fireplace. Above the mantle of this fireplace was the original portrait of Josette, a copy of which had once showed itself in the Great House of Collinwood before it was destroyed. What could be viewed of the walls was aquamarine in colour, as close as Barnabas had demanded the walls be painted in the 1790's by the best craftsmen money could hire.

"Barnabas? Do you see this room as well as I do with our new vision?" Josette wondered, "Isn't it as blue as ever?"

"Yes," he answered, "I can see it now… I believe I made some rather complimentary choices."

Josette turned around and smiled, "Allow me to show it to you a little brighter"

She then snapped her fingers and suddenly the long ago gutted candles, within several points in the room, sparked into flames; from the mantle to the chandelier above them, and the vanity displaying one silver candle stick.

"Even the candles are blue," Barnabas observed and recalled.

"Yes," his dear one smiled, "Now? You can do the rest, can't you?"

He smiled back at her, snapping his fingers and suddenly, an old set of logs once settled into the fireplace, from the last stay before being forgotten about, burst into flames to illuminate the room and warm its occupants.

"And now," Barnabas gave a more dour smile, "I shall leave you to your room," he bowed, _"… Josette."_

She grabbed his arm, "What do you mean?"

"We are not married, Victoria."

She tut-tutted, "But we _were_, Barnabas. We were. Or did you forget?"

He breathed in, "Yes, but… I wish to maintain sanctity with you. We must be wed again if we are to… engage… as once upon a time…"

A grin crept on Josette's vampiric façade, "Of course… just as you were wed… or well… _consummated_, to… Angie… right?"

His expression dropped in shame and he turned away from her toward the fireplace, "That was poorly done of me, I admit… and I am aggrieved that you know of my transgressions with her."

Josette's pupils widened and shrunk, "You're never going to figure it out, are you, Barnabas?"

She reached for him from behind, her fingers curving up through his coat, "I love you all the more for your vulnerabilities. It shows you to be so human and caring than you'll give yourself credit about. "

"Is that all there is to it?" Barnabas asked, earnestly, looking up at the ceiling.

Her smiles were felt by him, if unseen, in her answer, "Of course… it makes a difference if you know the person you love so dearly."

In all his old world luxury of clothing, manners, and mystique, he turned around and held her face in his vampire claws, as lovingly as any a devout husband might, "Victoria Winters… how do I do right by you… now, especially?"

The kindness of her face glowed into his, "Keep calling me by my rightful name on this estate: _Josette_. And keep loving me as you have always loved me: _Without question._ Promise me, as you promised long ago, that we will be together forever."

Barnabas repeated his vow from centuries a gone, "God as my witness, Josette. _I swear it._"

With their kiss that came upon this renewed vow, it gave her the courage to nod, "Now? Time for bed."

"What?" Barnabas inquired, looking at the only bed in the room, "_That_ one?"

Graced with the silk of an overhanging canopy and a fair view of the rest of the French and English attributes that had been ascribed to her quarters, yes, cobwebs or no cobwebs, it was a most serviceable bedroom for two vampires who wished to remain shielded from the sunlight. The curtain fabric over the Gothic-meets-French windows were about as thick as one could get. Josette leapt to the curtains on either window to pull them together.

"We'll be protected, my love. No worries on that account." She nodded, wandering back to the bed where he stood close by.

"But," Barnabas worried, "The proprieties,"

Josette heaved a sigh, "Proprieties? After so much that has happened already?"

Barnabas simpered at his lady fair, "How can I not worry about that?"

Josette stepped toward him, looked down, then looked up into his face and grinned, "I suppose I'll have to teach you everything now…"

Barnabas tilted his head at Josette, "I wish you would,"

Josette took the hand of her beloved and led him closer to the bed, then lifted the blankets and folded them at a cross angle. She turned around and wondered, "No clothing to sleep in per se, oui?"

Barnabas looked at the bed sheets, glimpsed at his beloved and smirked, "No… _pajamas_… as it were, Josette."

"So?" Josette asked.

"Here we are," her lover responded.

"It _is_ a bed for two people," Josette pointed out, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yes, it is," Barnabas agreed, with a mild, yet wicked, smile.

"It's just like an hotel," Josette urged him.

"I wish it were. I'd feel quite differently about this if it were."

Josette sighed, "Let's just get in."

They got in. As heavily clothed as might be and as veraciously in love as they once **had** been and _currently were_, the intensity of sharing a bed again was as invigorating as it was awkward.

They managed to hunker under the semi-dusty bed linens comfortably… and… then…

"Josette?" he inquired.

"Yes, Barnabas?"

"I'm on the wrong side. I'm lying on the right side of this bed and I never did that before."

Josette inhaled with chuckled reverie, "You want I should switch over?"

"Yes, please," Barnabas proposed.

And so… they had a fun flip-about, with the springs below the mattress giving their own squeaky remonstrance to the whole bed-side changing scenario.

Barnabas finally found a voice around all the ridiculousness, "Are you comfortable, my love?"

Josette couldn't help but snort minutely and attest, "I think I finally might be, my dear."

"Do you have enough cover of blankets?"

"Yes, I do. It's rather nice." She admitted, resting her head cozily on her pillows toward him.

"Yes, it is, rather." Barnabas agreed.

Josette duPres shifted in bed next to her ages old husband, "Are you sure you have got the right bed?"

He grasped her closely, "Yes… in an inverted sort of way…"

They snuggled more tightly under the bedclothes and stared at the fireplace together… until Josette turned to Barnabas and asked, "Tomorrow… should we… at the breakfast table… look 'smug' in the morning?"

Barnabas had his chance to remember and assure her, "Well, not particularly, my love. We have slept together before."

"Yes," Josette assented, "Except that Elizabeth doesn't know it was one-hundred and ninety-six years ago."

Josette felt a pat at her cheek, "We'll just look _slightly_ smug at that point, my love," Barnabas advised.

The two, once married in their old world, expecting to be married again in this new world, settled themselves down in the bed they once shared over a century ago and were now sharing once more. Spooning with his Josette, he clutched her closely.

"This seems like yesterday," Barnabas suggested.

An unexpected sigh came.

"No. It doesn't." Josette frowned.

Barnabas held her closer as she gripped his hands, "No… It doesn't."

Josette looked to the fireplace and to the candles, snapped her fingers, by which, putting the candles out.

With the increasing darkness from only the firelight in the hearth left, as the candles were stopped, Josette and her Barnabas kept moving closer and closer together under the bedclothes… not just for warmth but for security, companionship, and shared memories.

As they moved as near to each other as humanly possible in their old bridal chamber, Josette turned away from the fireplace to face her old lover, and said to him,

"Hello, again."

And Barnabas, always desiring to kiss her, bespoke,

"Hello, again."

* * *

_And so… they kissed… and more… which I, the author, shall leave to your own imagination. *wink*_

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_You must remember this  
A kiss is still a kiss  
A sigh is still a sigh  
The fundamental things apply  
As time goes by_

_And when two lovers woo  
They still say "I love you"  
On that you can **rely**  
No matter what the future brings  
As time goes by_

_Moonlight and love songs  
**Never out of date**  
Hearts full of passion  
Jealousy and hate  
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate  
That no one can deny_

_It's still the same old story  
A fight for love and glory  
A case of do or die  
The world will always welcome lovers  
As time goes by_

_Moonlight and love songs  
**Never out of date**  
Hearts full of passion  
Jealousy and hate  
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate  
That no one can deny_

_It's still the same old story  
A fight for love and glory  
A case of do or die  
The world will always welcome lovers  
As… time… goes… by…_

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_**A/N: Let me know what you liked! Thanks!**_


	7. Chapter 7: David's Room

**_"She talks to me… all the time…" – David Collins ('Dark Shadows' - 2012)_**

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Chapter Seven: David's Room

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"Mom? Mom? Is this the right room for me?"

_"Yes, sweetheart, of course it is… go in…"_

David entered the room and as soon as he did he saw a center table with a box of matches, ran to it, grabbed the box, slid a match out of the box, lit it and then lit whatever candle stubs were left in the room.

_"This is the old room of your counterpart, Daniel, my son,"_ said the ghost of Laura Collins.

"Mother, I don't know who you mean," David told her.

_"It makes very little difference, David,"_ she related to him, _"All you need to know is that this room is dry, and cosy and safe from all supernatural hostilities." _

"All right," David responded, as he looked about and found a dusty bed to, perhaps, sleep in.

_"Is there anything else you need to know tonight, David?"_ Laura asked.

"Yes," David sighed, as he pulled back the linen of the bed he'd found and sat on it, looking at her, "Can you tell me anything else about what to expect?"

_"I'm not sure I can, sweetheart. I have done my best for you, as I always have."_

David heaved a sigh and pulled his feet under the sheets and blankets, shoes and all, "I understand, Mother. I just wish I could know what choices to make in the days to come."

_"I'll do my best to instruct you, David,"_ Laura told her son, _"but for now we have to await the tides, just as boats need to do in their travails for fishing…"_

David sighed again and shifted in his little bed.

"Mother?"

_"Yes, David?"_

"Do you know how... proud... I am of you?"

_"No. I had ideas, but please tell me what you're thinking…"_

David looked at the dusty chandelier in his current room at The Old House, "I watched everyone try so hard to defeat Angelique. You told me such a long time ago how terrible she was. So many of our living relatives were ready to fight her off. We were all left at a standstill… but you…"

_"Yes?"_

"You came when she looked at me. You arrived when I told her, 'Not me. My Mom.'"

_"Yes,"_ Laura smiled at her living son, _"what choice did I have?"_

"Not many, Mom. I mean, we were all waiting for someone to help us. You were the obvious choice. And you got her… you got her good."

Wispy tones echoed throughout the room, _"It was my pleasure, David. I was awaiting the opportunity to strike her down… since the night I died." _

David turned in his bed, pulling the blankets over his right shoulder and smiling at his mothers' ghost, "I thought it was something you were waiting for, Mom."

The greenish blue spirit hovered around the Old House chandelier of David's chosen room, smiling pleasantly at her son, who she'd done her best to bring up since her "accident".

_"I was awaiting the chance to defeat her, David. Your place in everything that happened provided me with that chance. Angelique needed to be severely distracted. She needed Carolyn to jump at her, to have Barnabas as an element of concern, to have a servant ready with an axe, and to have your Aunt wielding and shooting a gun at her before I had enough strength to shriek, and do away with her. "_

David shifted in bed. On his back he smiled at his mother, "You were… **perfect…"**

_"I was, wasn't I? I'd tried to be. I was **so** angry and I let everything sit and well up and take hold of me entirely in that moment. I hope I succeeded in doing away with her once and for all."_

David brought the blankets up to his chin, "That's what I feel now, Mom. I can't tell that she is anywhere near us anymore… I hope that is enough."

_"It's all the proof I can ask for, sweetheart…. Now… get up… and… come toward this mirror…"_

David blinked, having gotten so cosy in his Old House bed, he decided he might as well get up to peruse what his mother wanted him to see at the dresser mirror.

"What is that, Mother?"

_"It is a message. It may be important or... it may not be."_

"What does it say?"

_"It's coming through now, David. Read me the letters."_

"N... O… S… I… M… A… J…" David repeated from the red scrawl that came through on the mirror, "What does that mean, Mother?"

_"Read it to me, David. Read it left to right."_

"Ja… Jam… Jamison… Mom? Who is that?"

_"A relation, someone who lived long ago at Collinwood. A little boy who was very much like you, David."_

David watched as the red lettering on the mirror flashed alight and then faded away.

Looking down, David sighed dejectedly, "_M-o-m_? Why do we need more people and ancestors and relatives? Don't we have enough to do now with everyone who is still left after Father went away?"

_"It's only a matter of what might be important in the future. I didn't want you to fall asleep without, perhaps, understanding one of your counterparts in our family."_

David blinked and looked up happily at his wispy ghost of a mother, "Does that mean I can go back to bed now?"

_"Of course, sweetheart! Go to bed and feel free to dream your **own** dreams and, for the time being, forget everything I've told you."_

David smiled in the abundance of relief, and leapt into his Old House bed as cosily as if he was Barnabas Collins being released from the curse of Mephistopheles.

Flapping the sheets and blankets back upon himself, he turned happily and listened to the crickets outside which brought him to blissful slumber.

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_T'was like the words were written backwards  
And on a tiny grain of sand  
But in fact they were gigantic  
And written in bold red_

_Nevertheless I didn't hear the warning  
Of my pending fate  
It's my practice to disregard omens  
Until it is too late_

_Heed the call  
Heed the call_

_Rising from the death, I've never seen  
Something came and moved me  
In a way I've never been… moved  
Lost it in the impulse, lost it in the urge  
In a well of my own feelings  
Lost to point of no return_

_Gave it in a whisper, gave it in a sigh  
Cast part of myself aside, and I don't wanna know why_

_Rising from a depth, I've never seen…_

_Something came…_

_{"words written backwards" by Single Gun Theory}_

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**A/N: Let me know what you liked! Stay safe and blessed be!**


	8. Chapter 8: Elizabeth Collins Stoddard

Chapter Eight: Elizabeth Collins Stoddard…

She was alone… as she always knew that she was…

Elizabeth had seen to the family and to the staff. Willie Loomis and Mrs. Johnson gave Elizabeth the impression they were fine. Willie slugged back a few shots in the Old House kitchen area, as Mrs. Johnson shrugged at Liz's concern for her.

"You'll see that Mrs. Johnson has all that she needs, won't you, Willie?"

"Hrmmnn?!" Willie answered after another swing of swill and bicarbonate of soda.

Elizabeth sighed. Within the walls of Collinwood's Great House, now diminished in Angelique's destruction, Mrs. Johnson always maintained and, somehow, Willie always maintained _with_ her.

Liz was *beyond* ready for bed!

There was a room upstairs for Elizabeth too. In fact, she'd already slept in it once upon a time when she needed time away from The Great House she, herself, had grown up in. This Old House was a playground for her, just as it was for her nephew, David, over their recent years.

Grappling the handrail, Elizabeth found her way up the stairs, thinking over her shotgun firing at Angelique that night. "I did good enough in that… for sure…" As the crinkly haired Liz trod her steps upward, she could practically hear the odd conversation between Laura and her son, David. She also decided it was not her business to pay attention to those wiry intonations she felt…

As Elizabeth reached a room that had held her so well in her own youth, she looked about her to see that the mustard antic of the décor were not that interesting as they'd been once-upon-a-time either. It was a matter of finding a bed and getting into the darn thing.

Of course, as soon as Liz did this, covering herself into the restfulness that would inevitably approach, Liz looked up at the ceiling and considered her family, heavily.

"Victoria Winters was Maggie Evans and has always been Josette duPres…" Elizabeth thought as she lay in her Old House bed, staring upward, "And Barnabas Collins is a vampire and has been waiting for her… No surprise there, either…" Liz kept thinking and thinking. "I won't begrudge them a moment of re-acquaintance. Why would I?" Liz stroked her hand over her face in all the wonderment of familiar obligations. "Barnabas and Josette were the legend and now its right in front of us… and frankly? I both welcome this and I don't really care either!"

As Elizabeth inhaled deeply to allow a restful sleep, she noticed another thought coming up to the surface for her…

_"I'm a werewolf, okay? … let's not make a big deal out of it… WOLF!" _

That was Carolyn… that was her own daughter admitting to being a werewolf… As Elizabeth had long suspected might have occurred since… since…

**_Paul left…_**

Liz lay in bed, as she had lain in bed before, wondering _why_ Paul had left.

_"I sent the **werewolf** who bit Carolyn in her crib…"_ Angie had admitted…

And _who was_ that werewolf?

"_My husband_," Elizabeth realised, "My husband… Paul Stoddard… because… **he** was a werewolf from the beginning. _He never told me_, and as Angelique turned his actions foul in her curses… he bit our daughter, Carolyn, and he couldn't live with that… so… he disappeared… and that is why he has been gone all these years now…"

"Paul… where** are** you now?" Elizabeth lay there, wondering…

As Liz looked at the ceiling she heard an odd growling noise...

Elizabeth sat up in bed and had to ask, "IS that you, Paul? Are you coming back to us? I doubt it. But when I wake up tomorrow? Feel free to let me know."

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard wasn't sure who was listening, but she was ready to close her eyes and fall asleep now. "Paul… you _will_ come back… or you won't… and I will be disappointed if you come back without letting me know. You were obviously manipulated by Angelique when Carolyn was a little girl. Knowing that? I can't blame you for leaving us. You were compelled to with your curse, Paul, and I wish you'd return to our family once more… curse and all."

And with that? Elizabeth wondered about her long-lost husband, curling the blankets over her, and fell, very soundly, to sleep.

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**A/N: Let me know what you liked! Thanks!**


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